Clinical Examinations

The Registrar of the College of Denturists of British Columbia hereby certifies that: The clinical examination is comprised of a three-section complete denture examination and an objectively structured clinical examination.

Complete Denture Examination

The criteria for the complete denture clinical examination is carefully constructed to avoid double jeopardy marking. Double jeopardy can occur when an error made early in the examination negatively affects the marks the candidate achieves throughout the remainder of the examination. Both the laboratory and clinical evaluations are marked on a dichotomous basis. This means that candidates must have every item that is listed in order to achieve a positive score for those criteria. If one item is missing, the examiners must assign a score of zero (0) for the section. A majority decision system is used. Two examiners score each section of the examination. If one gives the candidate a passing score and the other does not, the third examiner scores the section and determines the final score. Each examiner marks independently of the other.

As examiners mark independently of one another, it is important that the standards of the exam are clearly understood. The standard of a licensure examination is public protection. Based on this, each examiner must determine whether the quality of the item they are scoring meets the test of public protection. This test must be applied objectively to each and every section of the examination and to each and every candidate.